Historians embedded in industrial units

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods that provide a historian integrated as part of an industrial unit and/or product manufactured by the industrial process. A historian integrated as part of the industrial unit itself, can increase data resolution and supply immediate and real time data regarding the industrial unit&#39;s operation—while mitigating short comings of conventional PC historians. Moreover, a locator component can detect embedded historians that are distributed on the back plane of an industrial network, and integrated as part thereof.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/862,180, filed Sep. 26, 2007 and entitled “HISTORIANS EMBEDDED ININDUSTRIAL UNITS”, the entirety of which is incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject invention relates generally to historian componentsassociated with industrial controllers and more particularly toembedding and/or integrating a historian as part of an industrial unitand/or as part of a device that is manufactured by an industrialprocess.

BACKGROUND

Industrial controllers are special-purpose computers utilized forcontrolling industrial processes, manufacturing equipment, and otherfactory automation, such as data collection or networked systems. At thecore of the industrial control system, is a logic processor such as aProgrammable Logic Controller (PLC) or PC-based controller. ProgrammableLogic Controllers for instance, are programmed by systems designers tooperate manufacturing processes via user-designed logic programs or userprograms The user programs are stored in memory and generally executedby the PLC in a sequential manner although instruction jumping, loopingand interrupt routines, for example, are also common. Associated withthe user program are a plurality of memory elements or variables thatprovide dynamics to PLC operations and programs Differences in PLCs aretypically dependent on the number of Input/Output (I/O) they canprocess, amount of memory, number and type of instructions, and speed ofthe PLC central processing unit (CPU).

In a more macro sense than the controller, businesses have become morecomplex in that higher order business systems or computers often need toexchange data with such controllers. For instance, an industrialautomation enterprise may include several plants in different locations.Modern drivers such as efficiency and productivity improvement, andcost-reduction, are requiring manufacturers to collect, analyze, andoptimize data and metrics from global manufacturing sites. For example,a food company can have several plants located across the globe forproducing a certain brand of food. These factories in the past werestandalone, with minimum data collection and comparison of metrics withother similar factories. In the networked world of today, manufacturersare demanding real-time data from their factories to drive optimizationand productivity. Unfortunately, conventional control systemsarchitectures are not equipped to allow a seamless exchange of databetween these various components of the enterprise.

Another requirement of modern control system architectures is theability to record and store data in order to maintain compliance withFood and Drug Administration regulations such as Regulation 21 CFR Part11. One common solution for recording data includes providing a localrecording module that often occupies a slot in a controller backplanesuch as a PC-Historian which is an industrial computer for thecontroller backplane, and employs a transitional layer to supply anindirect interface to the controller. This includes a platform thatprovides high speed, time series, data storage and retrieval with bothlocal and remote control processors. The PC-Historian communicates withcontrollers directly through the backplane and can communicate remotelyvia a network interface. The PC-Historian allows archiving data from thecontroller to an Archive Engine which provides additional storagecapabilities.

In general, conventional historian processors enable high-speedreal-time data collection by communicating directly with the controlprocessor across the backplane for fast data collection speeds. Thisincludes handling large quantities of data over extended time periodswhile providing efficient storage and retrieval of process data overextended periods of time. These solutions are generally employed forelectronic documentation and provide an audit trail and data flags fortracking modified, inserted, or incomplete data. In order to configuresuch products, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) can be provided to mapcontroller tags defined in a local or remote processor to a datahistorian file.

There are several disadvantages to existing data collection and storagesolutions however. Conventional PC-historians are generally applied onthe back-end of system design and are thus loosely coupled or integratedwithin the framework of the control architecture. Such an arrangementleads to much inefficiency for collecting data and ultimatelyidentifying what data should or should not be captured. Othershortcomings include issues related to which historians should collectwhat data, and how such micro historians map and integrate into a largerenterprise.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects described herein. This summary is not anextensive overview nor is intended to identify key/critical elements orto delineate the scope of the various aspects described herein. Its solepurpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude tothe more detailed description that is presented later.

The subject innovation provides for a historian(s) integrated as part ofthe industrial unit itself, to increase data resolution and supplyimmediate and real time data regarding the industrial unit'soperation—while mitigating short comings of conventional PC historians.For example, for an industrial unit associated with food processing,such integrated historian can poll, record and process data with veryhigh resolution (e.g., 1 millisecond), wherein processing occurs withinthe architecture—as opposed to a network connection. Moreover, a locatorcomponent can further detect embedded historians that are distributed onthe back plane of an associated industrial network.

The acquired data can be maintained within the integrated historian fora predetermined time period. Accordingly, short comings associated withconventional PC historians, such as network connectivity issues,failures of operating system, power failures, and the like can bemitigated. The integrated historian of the subject innovation canfurther facilitate design of systems to provide common visualization tothird party applications. Moreover, the subject innovation enablesintegration of additional elements, such as alarm event data, directintegration with other applications (e.g., batch) into the system, whilepresenting a common visualization to multiple third party applications.In a related aspect, the historian can be integrated as part of themanufactured product (e.g., historian embedded into a manufacturedautomobile that leaves the assembly line), to preserve data related toits manufacturing process within the product itself.

According to a methodology in accordance with an aspect of the subjectinnovation, type of data to be collected with relation to a manufacturedproduct can be identified. The locator component can then be notifiedfor locating historians that collect such data type. Subsequently, thedata can be acquired, and aggregated into a historian that is embeddedin to the product itself when it leaves the manufacturing line. Suchhistorian integrated into the product can then be accessed to identifydata related to the manufacturing process (e.g., name of manufacturingcrew, environmental data existing at time of manufacture, and the like).

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certainillustrative aspects are described herein in connection with thefollowing description and the annexed drawings. These aspects areindicative of various ways which can be practiced, all of which areintended to be covered herein. Other advantages and novel features maybecome apparent from the following detailed description when consideredin conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a historian(s) that is integrated as part of theindustrial unit itself, to increase data resolution and supply immediateand real time data regarding the industrial unit's operation.

FIG. 2 illustrates a further aspect of the subject innovation wherein ahistorian can be integrated as part of the manufactured product, topreserve data related to manufacturing process within the productitself, in accordance with an aspect of the subject innovation.

FIG. 3 illustrates a related methodology of embedding historian datarelated to a manufactured product, within the product itself inaccordance with an aspect of the subject innovation.

FIG. 4 illustrates a further methodology of embedding a historian aspart of an industrial unit in accordance with an aspect of the subjectinnovation.

FIG. 5 illustrates an integrated historian component as part of anindustrial unit in accordance with an aspect of the subject innovation.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary industrial automation network thatemploys a historian component that is integrated as part of anindustrial unit, to enable high speed data collection (e.g., real time)from the industrial setting.

FIG. 7 illustrates historian services, which can employ a locatorcomponent for identifying a historian that is integrated as part of anindustrial unit in accordance with an aspect of the subject innovation.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a locator component, to identifydistributed embedded historian components that are integrated as part ofindustrial units in accordance with an aspect of the subject innovation.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary environment for implementing variousaspects of the locator component to identify historians integrated aspart of industrial units.

FIG. 10 illustrates an industrial setting with a backplane andassociated modules in accordance with an aspect of the subjectinnovation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The various aspects of the subject innovation are now described withreference to the annexed drawings, wherein like numerals refer to likeor corresponding elements throughout. It should be understood, however,that the drawings and detailed description relating thereto are notintended to limit the claimed subject matter to the particular formdisclosed. Rather, the intention is to cover all modifications,equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of theclaimed subject matter.

FIG. 1 illustrates a historian(s) 110 that is integrated as part of theindustrial unit 105 itself, to increase data resolution and supplyimmediate and real time data regarding the industrial unit'soperation—while mitigating short comings of conventional PC historians.For example, for an industrial unit associated with food processing,such integrated historian can poll, record and process data with veryhigh resolution (e.g., 1 millisecond), wherein processing occurs withinthe architecture—as opposed to a network connection. Such can facilitatecompliance with Food and Drug Administration regulations, for example(e.g., Regulation 21 CFR Part 11.) Moreover, a locator component (notshown) can further detect embedded historians that are distributed onthe back plane of an industrial network.

The integrated historian 110 can further be associated with avisualization component 120 that can display data collected by theintegrated historian 110. The information displayed by the visualizationcomponent 120 can be related to specific processes, machines and/or dataassociated with various aspects of machine control, for example. Suchinformation can also be modified with respect to various propertiesrelated to visual format and display of the information to a user. Thevisualization component 120 can change visual properties associated withreceived information based on various parameters. For example, displayproperties such as color, font, size, location, and/or various levels ofdetail and illustrated utilizing graphics such as bar graphs, dials, piecharts, and the like. Various external visual aids can also beassociated with the data and displayed in place of or along side thedata to provide context for the information, such as bitmaps, vectorbased graphics, and the like. The visualization component 120 candisplay data at various granularity levels 121, 123, 125 (1 to m—where mis an integer), wherein such granularity levels can be selectedpartially in response to fault detection, alert triggering, and thelike. Such display enables a user (e.g., plant engineer, industrialoperator) to view a rate of data collection and/or sampling throughoutan industrial process, based on criticality of the operation for atrouble shooting thereof.

FIG. 2 illustrates a further aspect of the subject innovation wherein ahistorian can be integrated as part of the manufactured product (e.g.,as part of an manufactured automobile), to preserve data related tomanufacturing process with the product itself. The manufactured product250 can be any type of product that is created as a result of anindustrial process such as: engines, electronics, mechanical equipment,consumer goods, home appliances, and the like. As such, data related tothe industrial process that created the manufactured product 250 (e.g.,temperature data, name of operator at time of creation, processemployed, and the like) can be stored within the manufactured productitself for future reference. For example, the embedded historian 240 canbe in form of an electronic chip that is embedded into an engine of anautomobile and identifies data related to the fabrication process of theengine. Accordingly, subsequent trouble shooting attempts for suchautomobile can further be correlated to the manufacturing process datathat is stored within the historian embedded in the engine, for example.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, multi-tiered and distributed historian system200 can further be implemented in accordance with an aspect of thesubject innovation. The exemplary system 200 illustrates three tieredhistorian level, wherein the highest data collection tier is illustratedand can be referred to as the enterprise tier 210. This tier aggregatesdata collected from lower level tiers such as from a plant tier 220 anda micro or embedded tier 230. As illustrated, the tiers 210 and 220 caninclude archival or permanent storage capabilities. In the system 200,data can be collected from two plants at the tier 220, and from aplurality of historian components at tier 230. It is to be appreciatedthat such an arrangement is exemplary in nature, and other arrangementsare well within the realm of the subject innovation.

Typically, the system 200 can be viewed as a Distributed Historian thatspans machines, plants, and enterprises. At level 230, the historiancollects data at the rack level and is coupled to Common Plant DataStructure described above. Such can include collecting process &discrete data, alarms & events in a single archive if desired. Otheraspects can include auto-discovery of data and context from controllersin local chassis including store/forward data capabilities from localbuffers. Data can be collected without polling, having a lowcommunications bandwidth. The plant level 220 aggregates data from microor rack-embedded historians and/or other data sources (e.g., Live Datasource). Such can include plant-level querying, analytics, reportingwhile efficiently storing, retrieving, and managing large amounts ofdata. This level can also auto-discover data and data model context frommicro historians located at level 230. Other features of the system 200can include analysis components, logical units, components forinteraction with report elements, embeddable presentation components,replication of configuration, storage, archiving, data compression,summarization/filtering, security, and scalability.

FIG. 3 illustrates a related methodology 300 of embedding historian datarelated to a manufactured product, within the product itself inaccordance with an aspect of the subject innovation. While the exemplarymethod is illustrated and described herein as a series of blocksrepresentative of various events and/or acts, the present invention isnot limited by the illustrated ordering of such blocks. For instance,some acts or events may occur in different orders and/or concurrentlywith other acts or events, apart from the ordering illustrated herein,in accordance with the invention. In addition, not all illustratedblocks, events or acts, may be required to implement a methodology inaccordance with the present invention. Moreover, it will be appreciatedthat the exemplary method and other methods according to the inventionmay be implemented in association with the method illustrated anddescribed herein, as well as in association with other systems andapparatus not illustrated or described. Initially and at 310 anindustrial operation related to a manufactured product for which datacollection is required can be identified. Subsequently, and at 320 datafrom a plurality of historians that operate as part of the industrialoperation can be stored into a central location. From such pool of dataand at 330, data related to a product can be designated and saved aspart of a historian that is embedded into the product itself at 340.Accordingly, future trouble shooting efforts with respect to the productcan employ data related to its manufacturing process (e.g., conditionsof the manufacturing line, manufacturing crew involved, processmethodologies employed therein, and the like.)

FIG. 4 illustrates a further methodology 400 of embedding a historian aspart of an industrial unit in accordance with an aspect of the subjectinnovation. Initially, and at 410 various function blocks that areassociated with an industrial process can be determined In general, suchfunction blocks can pertain to a control strategy, which can bedownloaded to one or more control modules in the control system.Moreover, the control functions represented by the function blocks areimplemented in the verified control routine according to executionordering which may be determined in the compilation or verificationprocess in the configuration tool.

A plurality of triggering events can subsequently be defined at 420 thatcorrespond to execution of a particular granularity of data collectionassociated with such function blocks. For example, such triggering eventcan be based on an execution order, data importance, likelihood of use,and the like. Next, and at 430 feedback can be provided (e.g., a plantengineer, operator) regarding efficiency of such data collection. Basedon such feedback, and/or based on predetermined criteria (e.g., datacriticality for future trouble shooting) a rate for data collection canbe varied, at 440. Subsequently, and at 450, data collection can proceedfrom historians that are embedded and/or integrated in the industrialunit itself. Such integration can increase data resolution and supplyimmediate and real time data regarding the industrial unit'soperation—while mitigating short comings of conventional PC historians.

FIG. 5 illustrates an integrated historian component 500 as part of anindustrial unit 501 in accordance with an aspect of the subjectinnovation. The industrial setting 505 can employ a hierarchical datamodel with various level; e.g., enterprise level, site level (factoryrepresented within a data packet), area level (an area within thefactory associated with the data); line level (a line associated withparticular data), a work-cell level (which indicates a work-cellassociated with the data) and the like. For example by employing anested, hierarchical data model, the integrated historian component 500can readily become aware of data associated therewith. In addition, suchhierarchy can further be customized by users to obtain increasedgranularity within the hierarchy. The common data model 510 can enablethe integrated historian component 500 to determine data contexts in anautomated manner. The common data model 510 allows data to be marked orlabeled via metadata for example to both expose historian functionalityto a system and/or to allow the embedded historian component 500 to beautomatically integrated within the system according to data that isexposed to the embedded historian component. For example, one suchlabeling can pertain to security, and typically can affect substantiallyall components in the system associated with the common data model 510.

The locator component 525 can be associated with a directory anddiscovery service 520. Such an arrangement enables the integratedhistorian component 500 to locate other embedded historian components inthe system and to receive/expose historian data to other systemcomponents. This can include a network directory that determinesphysical addresses from logical names and vice versa, for example.Moreover, the publish and subscribe component 530 can providesubscription functionality to the integrated historian component 500,wherein data collection efficiency of the system can be enhanced. Forexample, the publish and subscribe component 530 of the system 505allows data to be published or generated when a change in the data hasbeen detected. Thus, the integrated historian component 500 cansubscribe to such change events and thus only record data when a changehas occurred which reduces the amount of data to be stored. Furthermore,the locator component 525 can employ a trail of metadata to identify theembedded historians (e.g., micro-historians) and relevant historian datafor collection. Additionally, a polling/publication arrangement can alsobe employed wherein the embedded historians (e.g., micro-historians)identify themselves to the locator component upon occurrence of apredetermined event, and/or periodically.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary industrial automation network thatemploys a historian component that is integrated as part of anindustrial unit 633, to enable high speed data collection (e.g., realtime) from the industrial setting 600. The industrial setting 600 caninclude a database 610, a human machine interface (HMI) 620 and aprogrammable logic controller (PLC) 630, and a directory interface 640.The directory interface 640 can further associate with an ArtificialIntelligence (AI) component 650 to facilitate efficient identificationof historians integrated within an industrial unit thru a locatorcomponent 665. For example, in connection with distributing resourcesand/or identifying requirements of an embedded historian, the subjectinvention can employ various artificial intelligence schemes. A processfor learning explicitly or implicitly how a resource should bedistributed to an embedded historian, can be facilitated via anautomatic classification system and process. Classification can employ aprobabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis (e.g., factoring intothe analysis utilities and costs) to prognose or infer an action that auser desires to be automatically performed. For example, a supportvector machine (SVM) classifier can be employed. Other classificationapproaches include Bayesian networks, decision trees, and probabilisticclassification models providing different patterns of independence canbe employed. Classification as used herein also is inclusive ofstatistical regression that is utilized to develop models of priority.

As will be readily appreciated from the subject specification, thesubject invention can employ classifiers that are explicitly trained(e.g., via a generic training data) as well as implicitly trained (e.g.,via observing user behavior, receiving extrinsic information) so thatthe classifier is used to automatically determine according to apredetermined criteria which answer to return to a question. Forexample, with respect to SVM's that are well understood, SVM's areconfigured via a learning or training phase within a classifierconstructor and feature selection module. A classifier is a functionthat maps an input attribute vector, x=(x1, x2, x3, x4, xn), to aconfidence that the input belongs to a class—that is,f(x)=confidence(class). As shown in FIG. 6, an artificial intelligence(AI) component 650 can be employed to facilitate inferring and/ordetermining when, where, how to allocate a plurality of availableresources to the plurality of embedded historians. The AI component 650can employ any of a variety of suitable AI-based schemes as describedsupra in connection with facilitating various aspects of the subjectinvention.

Moreover, the directory interface 640 can be employed to provide datafrom an appropriate location such as the data source 660, a server 670and/or a proxy server 680. Accordingly, the directory interface 640 canpoint to a source of data based upon role and requirements (needs) of arequester (e.g., database 610, HMI 620, PLC 630, and the like.) Thedatabase 610 can be any number of various types such as a relational,network, flat-file or hierarchical systems. Typically, such databasescan be employed in connection with various enterprise resource planning(ERP) applications that can service any number of various businessrelated processes within a company. For example, ERP applications can berelated to human resources, budgeting, forecasting, purchasing and thelike. Accordingly, particular ERP applications can require data that hascertain desired attributes associated therewith. Thus, in accordancewith an aspect of the subject invention, the directory interface 640 canprovide data to the database 610 from the server 670, which providesdata with the attributes desired by the database 610.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the embedded historian 633 can leveragedirectory interface 640 and other re-locatable information services orsoftware services to facilitate allocation/distribution of resourcesamong a plurality of plant embedded historians, via the allocationcomponent 665. Moreover, the HMI 620 can employ the directory interface640 to point to data located within the system 600. The HMI 620 can beemployed to graphically display various aspects of a process, system,factory, etc. to provide a simplistic and/or user-friendly view of thesystem. Accordingly, various data points within a system can bedisplayed as graphical (e.g., bitmaps, jpegs, vector based graphics,clip art and the like) representations with desired color schemes,animation, and layout.

The HMI 620 can request data to have particular visualization attributesassociated with data in order to easily display such data thereto. Forexample, the HMI 620 can query the directory interface 640 for aparticular data point that has associated visualization attributes. Thedirectory interface 640 can determine that the proxy server 680 containsthe attributed data point with the desired visualization attributes. Forinstance, the attributed data point can have a particular graphic thatis either referenced or sent along with the data such that this graphicappears within the HMI environment instead of or along with the datavalue.

The PLC 630 can be any number of models such as Allen Bradley PLC5,SLC-500, MicoLogix, and the like. The PLC 630 is generally defined as aspecialized device employed to provide high-speed, low-level control ofa process and/or system. The PLC 630 can be programmed using ladderlogic or some form of structured language. Typically, the PLC 630 canutilize data directly from a data source (e.g., data source 660) thatcan be a sensor, encoder, measurement sensor, switch, valve and thelike. The data source 660 can provide data to a register in a PLC, andsuch data can be stored in the PLC if desired. Additionally, data can beupdated (e.g., based on a clock cycle) and/or output to other devicesfor further processing.

FIG. 7 illustrates historian services 700, which can employ a locatorcomponent 712 for identifying a historian that is integrated as part ofan industrial unit in accordance with an aspect of the subjectinvention. The historian services 700 can include historian dataservices 710 and presentation and reporting services 720. Historian DataServices 710 (HDS) can supply generic, customizable services forcollecting and storing data with plant model-defined context. This caninclude configuration of data to be collected e.g., tags, data context,alarms, events, diagnostics, SOE data and configuration of data to beforwarded to a higher level. Collection of data can be from disparatesources including storage of data, retrieval of data, and management ofdata. Management of data collected by/residing in other data stores(e.g., higher-level business systems, 3rd party products) can beprocessed by the respective applications. The presentation and reportingservices 720 (PRS) can supply generic, customizable services forcollating and presenting data in a common plant model-defined context.This can include access to stored data, analysis/calculators and querymechanisms, and embeddable, interactive presentation components (e.g.,text, charts, SPC). The service 710 can generate reports with variousmeans of presentation/distribution (e.g., web, email) having exportcapabilities to standard formats (e.g., XML, Excel).

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a locator component 809, whichidentifies distributed embedded historian components 810 that areintegrated as part of industrial units in accordance with an aspect ofthe subject innovation. For example, such locator component 809 candetect embedded historians that are to be configured and are distributedon the back plane of an industrial network. The locator component 809can be part of applications running with the control components 811,812, 813 (1 to j, where j is an integer) which can function as amanagement control center for the industrial network system 800.Accordingly, a distributed embedded historian framework is provided,which can be integrated as part of the industrial units, whereinhistorical data types can be collected based on configurations of theembedded historian, (e.g., in accordance with an organizational model ofa hierarchical system that is distributed across various elements of anenterprise)—such that when a plant comes on-line, the embeddedhistorians announce their presence to the industrial plant 800, and arediscovered thereby. A directory service (not shown) can further operatewith the organizational model to enable configuration of embeddedhistorians within the organization.

A network system 814 can be associated with the industrial automationsystem 800, which can be searched via the locator component 809. Thenetwork system can further include additional hosts, which may bepersonal computers, servers or other types of computers. Such hostsgenerally can be capable of running or executing one or moreapplication-level (or user-level) programs, as well as initiating an I/Orequest (e.g., 110 reads or writes). In addition, the network system canfurther include one or more input/output units (I/O units), wherein suchI/O units can includes one or more I/O controllers connected thereto,and each of the I/O can be any of several types of I/O devices, such asstorage devices (e.g., a hard disk drive, tape drive) or other I/Odevice. The hosts and I/O units and their attached I/O controllers anddevices can be organized into groups such as clusters, with each clusterincluding one or more hosts and typically one or more I/O units (eachI/O unit including one or more I/O controllers). The hosts and I/O unitscan be interconnected via a collection of routers, switches andcommunication links (such as wires, connectors, cables, and the like)that connects a set of nodes (e.g., connects a set of hosts and I/Ounits) of one or more clusters.

It is noted that as used in this application, terms such as “component,”“hierarchy,” “model, ” and the like are intended to refer to anelectromechanical units computer-related entity, either hardware, acombination of hardware and software, software, or software in executionas applied to an automation system for industrial control. For example,a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on aprocessor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution,a program and a computer. By way of illustration, both an applicationrunning on a server and the server can be components. One or morecomponents can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and acomponent may be localized on one computer and/or distributed betweentwo or more computers, industrial controllers, and/or modulescommunicating therewith.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary environment 910 for implementing variousaspects of the locator component to identify historians integrated aspart of industrial units. The computer 912 includes a processing unit914, a system memory 916, and a system bus 918. The system bus 918couples system components including, but not limited to, the systemmemory 916 to the processing unit 914. The processing unit 914 can beany of various available processors. Dual microprocessors and othermultiprocessor architectures also can be employed as the processing unit914. The system bus 918 can be any of several types of bus structure(s)including the memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus orexternal bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available busarchitectures including, but not limited to, 9-bit bus, IndustrialStandard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MSA), ExtendedISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB),Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Universal Serial Bus (USB),Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory CardInternational Association bus (PCMCIA), and Small Computer SystemsInterface (SCSI).

The system memory 916 includes volatile memory 920 and nonvolatilememory 922. The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basicroutines to transfer information between elements within the computer912, such as during start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory 922. Byway of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory 922 caninclude read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electricallyprogrammable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flashmemory. Volatile memory 920 includes random access memory (RAM), whichacts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and notlimitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM(SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rateSDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), anddirect Rambus RAM (DRRAM).

Computer 912 also includes removable/non-removable,volatile/non-volatile computer storage media. FIG. 9 illustrates, forexample a disk storage 924. Disk storage 924 includes, but is notlimited to, devices like a magnetic disk drive, floppy disk drive, tapedrive, Jaz drive, Zip drive, LS-60 drive, flash memory card, or memorystick. In addition, disk storage 924 can include storage mediaseparately or in combination with other storage media including, but notlimited to, an optical disk drive such as a compact disk ROM device(CD-ROM), CD recordable drive (CD-R Drive), CD rewritable drive (CD-RWDrive) or a digital versatile disk ROM drive (DVD-ROM). To facilitateconnection of the disk storage devices 924 to the system bus 918, aremovable or non-removable interface is typically used such as interface926.

It is to be appreciated that FIG. 9 describes software that acts as anintermediary between users and the basic computer resources described insuitable operating environment 910. Such software includes an operatingsystem 928. Operating system 928, which can be stored on disk storage924, acts to control and allocate resources of the computer system 912.System applications 930 take advantage of the management of resources byoperating system 928 through program modules 932 and program data 934stored either in system memory 916 or on disk storage 924. It is to beappreciated that various components described herein can be implementedwith various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

A user enters commands or information into the computer 912 throughinput device(s) 936. Input devices 936 include, but are not limited to,a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad,keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, TVtuner card, digital camera, digital video camera, web camera, and thelike. These and other input devices connect to the processing unit 914through the system bus 918 via interface port(s) 938. Interface port(s)938 include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port,and a universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s) 940 use some of thesame type of ports as input device(s) 936. Thus, for example, a USB portmay be used to provide input to computer 912, and to output informationfrom computer 912 to an output device 940. Output adapter 942 isprovided to illustrate that there are some output devices 940 likemonitors, speakers, and printers, among other output devices 940 thatrequire special adapters. The output adapters 942 include, by way ofillustration and not limitation, video and sound cards that provide ameans of connection between the output device 940 and the system bus918. It should be noted that other devices and/or systems of devicesprovide both input and output capabilities such as remote computer(s)944.

Computer 912 can operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer(s)944. The remote computer(s) 944 can be a personal computer, a server, arouter, a network PC, a workstation, a microprocessor based appliance, apeer device or other common network node and the like, and typicallyincludes many or all of the elements described relative to computer 912.For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device 946 is illustratedwith remote computer(s) 944. Remote computer(s) 944 is logicallyconnected to computer 912 through a network interface 948 and thenphysically connected via communication connection 950. Network interface948 encompasses communication networks such as local-area networks (LAN)and wide-area networks (WAN). LAN technologies include Fiber DistributedData Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI),Ethernet/IEEE 802.3, Token Ring/IEEE 802.5 and the like. WANtechnologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-point links,circuit switching networks like Integrated Services Digital Networks(ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks, and DigitalSubscriber Lines (DSL).

Communication connection(s) 950 refers to the hardware/software employedto connect the network interface 948 to the bus 918. While communicationconnection 950 is shown for illustrative clarity inside computer 912, itcan also be external to computer 912. The hardware/software necessaryfor connection to the network interface 948 includes, for exemplarypurposes only, internal and external technologies such as, modemsincluding regular telephone grade modems, cable modems and DSL modems,ISDN adapters, and Ethernet cards.

As used herein, the terms “component,” “system” and the like areintended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, acombination of hardware and software, software, or software inexecution, as well as electro mechanical components. For example, acomponent may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on aprocessor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution,a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both anapplication running on computer and the computer can be a component. Oneor more components may reside within a process and/or thread ofexecution and a component may be localized on one computer and/ordistributed between two or more computers. The word “exemplary” is usedherein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Anyaspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily tobe construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs.

FIG. 10 illustrates an additional environment for implementinghistorians that are integrated as part of industrial units, wherein eachfunctional module 1014, is attached to the backplane 1016 by means of aseparable electrical connector 1030 that permits the removal of themodule 1014 from the backplane 1016—(so that it may be replaced orrepaired without disturbing the other modules 1014.) The backplane 1016provides the module 1014 with both power and a communication channel tothe other modules 1014. Local communication with the other modules 1014through the backplane 1016 is accomplished by means of a backplaneinterface 1032 which electrically connects the backplane 1016 throughconnector 1030. The backplane interface 1032 monitors messages on thebackplane 1016 to identify those messages intended for the particularmodule 1014, based on a message address being part of the message andindicating the message destination. Messages received by the backplaneinterface 1032 are conveyed to an internal bus 1034 in the module 1014.

The internal bus 1034 joins the backplane interface 1032 with a memory1036, a microprocessor 1028, front panel circuitry 1038, I/O interfacecircuitry 1039 and communication network interface circuitry 1041. Themicroprocessor 1028 can be a general purpose microprocessor providingfor the sequential execution of instructions included within the memory1036 and the reading and writing of data to and from the memory 1036 andthe other devices associated with the internal bus 1034. Themicroprocessor 1028 includes an internal clock circuit (not shown)providing the timing of the microprocessor 1028 but may also communicatewith an external clock 1043 of improved precision. This clock 1043 maybe a crystal controlled oscillator or other time standard including aradio link to an external time standard. The precision of the clock 1043may be recorded in the memory 1036 as a quality factor. The panelcircuitry 1038 includes status indication lights such as are well knownin the art and manually operable switches such as for locking the module1014 in the off state.

The memory 1036 can comprise control programs or routines executed bythe microprocessor 1028 to provide control functions, as well asvariables and data necessary for the execution of those programs orroutines. For I/O modules, the memory 1036 may also include an I/O tableholding the current state of inputs and outputs received from andtransmitted to the industrial controller 1010 via the I/O modules 1020.The module 1014 can be adapted to perform the various methodologies ofthe innovation, via hardware configuration techniques and/or by softwareprogramming techniques.

What has been described above includes various exemplary aspects. It is,of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination ofcomponents or methodologies for purposes of describing these aspects,but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many furthercombinations and permutations are possible. In particular regard to thevarious functions performed by the above described components(assemblies, devices, circuits, systems, etc.), the terms (including areference to a “means”) used to describe such components are intended tocorrespond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performsthe specified function of the described component (e.g., that isfunctionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to thedisclosed structure, which performs the function in the hereinillustrated exemplary aspects of the innovation. In this regard, it willalso be recognized that the innovation includes a system as well as acomputer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions forperforming the acts and/or events of the various methods of theinnovation. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is usedin either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intendedto be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as“comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in aclaim.

1. An industrial automation system, comprising: a historian configuredto be integrated with a manufactured product, wherein the historian isfurther configured to store data pertinent to manufacture of theproduct.
 2. The industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein theintegrated historian further comprises a locator component configured tolocate at least one historian associated with manufacture of theproduct.
 3. The industrial automation system of claim 2, wherein thelocator component is configured to employ a directory and discoverservice to communicate with the at least one historian.
 4. Theindustrial automation system of claim 3, wherein the directory anddiscover service includes a network directory to facilitate at least oneof determination of physical addresses from logical names ordetermination of logical names from physical addresses.
 5. Theindustrial automation system of claim 1, wherein the integratedhistorian further comprises a publish and subscribe component configuredto facilitate, in response to a change in the data, at least one ofpublication or generation of the data.
 6. The industrial automationsystem of claim 1, wherein the integrated historian further comprises avisualization component configured to display data collected by theintegrated historian.
 7. The industrial automation system of claim 6,wherein the data is related to at least one of a specific process, aspecific machine, or an aspect of machine control, pertaining tomanufacture of the product.
 8. The industrial automation system of claim6, wherein the visualization component is further configured to displaythe data in accord with at least one of granularity associated withfault detection or alert triggering, a multi-tiered representation of anindustrial process associated with the product, a requirement of anenterprise resource planning application, or to facilitateallocation/distribution of resources.
 9. The industrial automationsystem of claim 1, wherein the integrated historian is furtherconfigured to communicate directly with at least one historian.
 10. Theindustrial automation system of claim 1, wherein the integratedhistorian is further configured to associate a visualization attributewith the data.
 11. A method for utilizing a historian, integratable witha product manufactured in an industrial plant comprising: storing dataon the historian, wherein the data is pertaining to manufacture of theproduct.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: communicatingwith at least one other historian.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: retrieving data from the at least one other historian, thedata pertaining to manufacture of the product.
 14. The method of claim11, further comprising: displaying the data at the historian.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, further comprising: determining which data todisplay according to at least one of fault detection, alarms associatedwith manufacturing of the product, a multi-tiered representation of anindustrial process associated with the product, a requirement of anenterprise resource planning application associated with the product, orfacilitating allocating/distributing of resources.
 16. Acomputer-readable storage medium comprising computer executableinstructions that, in response to execution by a computer system, causethe computing system to perform operations comprising: identifying atleast one historian associated with manufacture of a product; retrievingdata from the at least one historian; and storing the data on a storagedevice integrated with the product
 17. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 16, wherein the identifying further comprising utilizinga directory.
 18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17,further comprising, utilizing the directory to facilitate determining atleast one of physical addresses from logical names or logical names fromphysical addresses for the at least one historian.
 19. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprisingdisplaying the stored data on a display associated with the integratedstorage device.
 20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19,wherein the displaying is a function of at least one of detecting afault associated with the product, identifying an alarm associated withthe product, a multi-tiered representation of an industrial processassociated with the product, a requirement of an enterprise resourceplanning application associated with the product, or facilitatingallocating/distributing of resources.